I'm sure I'm not understanding something here. My DAC (using ASIO driver) has a volume control plugin for JRiver that requires me to use System Volume and Enable Volume When Bitstreaming. Defaulting volume to 100% would be a disaster for me.
That shouldn't be affected by this change - or at least JRiver should account for that when the "enable volume when bitstreaming option" is enabled.
The change described above would be to the system volume level, not JRiver's volume level.
A bitstreamed format must always be streamed to the DAC at 100% volume.
You cannot adjust the volume level without decoding the audio first, or it would break the bitstream.
With a DAC like yours, the audio is still bitstreamed at 100% volume, along with a signal telling the DAC to then play it back at say 50% volume.
The bitstream itself is not transmitted to the DAC at 50% volume. (because you can't do that)
The problem is that it's currently possible to end up with JRiver bitstreaming the audio at less than 100% volume with some devices because it doesn't set the system volume to 100%, it just assumes that it will be bypassed.
And bitstreaming at less than 100% volume breaks it.
